Comparison of Ode to a Nightingale and Ode on a Grecian Urn Essay

John Keats poems Ode to a Nightingale and Ode on a Grecian Urn exist for the purpose of describing a moment in life, such as a brief song of a nightingale and scene depicted on an urn; however within each moment there is a multitude of emotions. Keats Ode on a Grecian Urn deals with the perplexing and indefinable relationship between life and art. Ironically, it is the life of the urn that would normally associate with stillness that is shown to be representative of life. In Ode to a Nightingale the happiness is communicating with the nightingale as its song is contrasted with the dead weight of human illness, and the transience of youth and beauty. The odes are similar in many ways as in both Keats depicts the symbols of immortality, and grief to joy. However, the symbol of the nightingale is dealing with nature and the urn is a fantasy, a piece of art. Both require different senses for admiring. By comparing the elements of poems, it is evident that all aspects relate directly to human emotions.

The nightingale and urn are both symbols of immortality represented in different ways. In Ode to a Nightingale Keats contrasts the birds immortality to that of the life of human beings, as he says but the nightingale, entertaining generations after generations. In comparison the urn in Ode on a Grecian Urn is a sculptured vessel with Greek figures showing an unravished bride, an immortal object untouched by time, showing the life it is depicting is unchanging.

The inner pain and grief engulfing the poet is revealed in a very subtle manner in both the odes. Even when the speaker is in the imaginative world with the nightingale, he is thinking of death in embalmed darkness. He also realises that death means he could no longer hear the bird song. Suddenly the beautiful bird song seems to sound like a requiem. The nightingale flies away and its song seems a plaintive anthem, very faint. In Ode on a Grecian Urn the poet realises as the figures are frozen, they will never change. Keats emphasizes the feeling of permanence by repeating the words never, never. The repetition implies that man will never be able to kiss the maiden because his position will never change, and the space between both of them will never decrease.

In the Ode to a Nightingale and Ode on a Grecian Urn the symbols also contrast. The nightingale is a living creature and a part of nature. Contrary, the urn is stationary and a manmade object. The sense of hearing allows Keats to hear the nightingales enchanting music, although sight allows Keats to admire the urn.

John Keats presents many issues in this poetry, such as nature, existence and emotion. He wrote the Ode to a Nightingale and the Ode on a Grecian Urn at a difficult time in his life. As a result there are many similarities and few differences. Together, both their similarities illustrate the fragility of life and a greatness of human emotions.